ABOUT ME
Hi, I’m Lael (they/them). I used to be heavily invested in both drinking and dieting (“dieting” includes pursuing weight loss, trying to shrink your body, and manipulating your food and/or activity under the umbrella of "health").
I parted ways with alcohol soon after coming out as queer, and I did it without identifying as an alcoholic (or any other label). I mention that because if labels work for you, great! But they are not necessary to examine or question your relationship to either drinking or dieting.
If any part of you wonders if your life would be better without one, the other, or both – that is more than enough reason to explore further. It’s actually pretty effed up that both our drinking, and our relationship to food and our bodies, can be seriously messing with our lives, but society sends us the message that unless we fit the stereotype of an alcoholic or someone with an eating disorder, there’s no cause for concern. Not only are those stereotypes problematic and not actually representative of huge groups of people, but why wait to address something that we know is causing us harm now?
During my experience of parting ways with alcohol and then tackling a lifetime of dieting, disordered eating (including an undiagnosed eating disorder), and body shame, I found resources that addressed giving up drinking OR that addressed food and body issues. Yet I could not find any sources that spoke to the intersection of the two. And in my personal experience, and in the experience of most of those I have worked with, the two do indeed frequently intersect.
Disengaging from diet culture has been some of the most challenging work I’ve ever done and also the most rewarding. And all the work I’d done in connection with becoming alcohol-free, and all the tools and tricks I’d gathered to support that effort, helped support me in this area of reclamation as well.
I have reclaimed my body from alcohol, and I continue to reclaim it from diet culture.
Every. Damn. Day.
As I know I am not the only one for whom drinking and dieting intersect, I choose to focus on them both. I leave it to those who want to work with me whether they choose to focus on one or the other, or the two in combination.
I am queer, nonbinary, and someone who benefits from the unearned privileges associated with being white, able-bodied, and in a straight-size body. I have found, and you may as well, that the more we reclaim our own bodies, the fiercer our desire to fight for the rights of ALL bodies, and the stronger we feel in our ability to do so.
In addition to my lived experience, my credentials include being a Certified Professional Coach, Certified Professional Recovery Coach, She Recovers Designated Coach, Tempest Designated Recovery Coach, Certified Holistic Health Coach, Certified Diet Recovery Coach, and Certified Weight Neutral Coach.
I also firmly believe in the healing powers of both profanity and humor.
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